Could Acer deliver a 3.5-inch Android with full-sized performance?

One of our biggest pet peeves – one we’ve talked about time and time again – is that smartphone OEMs have had this well-nigh unshakable belief that smaller phones had to be underpowered, and next-gen chips only belong in their handsets. We’re still a long way from undoing this trend, but there’s been some recent progress – look only to the 4.3-inch 720p displays we’ve been hearing about on HTC gear. Today, our attention’s on Acer, after hearing some company execs talking about an upcoming model.

The company’s smartphone head ST Liew explained, “a lot of people have started abandoning 3.5 inch. No, we are going to persist on 3.5 inch and we are going to make a 3.5 inch suitable for a segment of people that treasure smaller screen devices.”

He continued, “we are going to announce a 3.5-inch device pretty soon which is proud to be small,” and also may have accidentally dropped the handset’s name, the Acer Liquid ZX.

Now, Acer might have a very different idea from us about just what sort of hardware it would take in a 3.5-inch phone for us to “treasure” the handset, but we’re cautiously optimistic. What do you think would make a killer 3.5-inch Android? A qHD display, maybe?

Stephen has been writing about electronics since 2008, which only serves to frustrate him that he waited so long to combine his love of gadgets and his degree in writing. In his spare time, he collects console and arcade game hardware, is a motorcycle enthusiast, and enjoys trapping blue crabs. Stephen's first mobile device was a 624 MHz Dell Axim X30, which he's convinced is still a viable platform. Stephen longs for a market where phones are sold independently of service, and bandwidth is cheap and plentiful; he's not holding his breath. In the meantime, he devours smartphone news and tries to sort out the juicy bitsRead more about Stephen Schenck!